While Congressional leaders were meeting again at the White House on Tuesday about a budget and debt limit deal, what were lawmakers actually debating on the floors of the House and Senate? "Not the debt limit," is your easy answer.
Yes, there were a number of speeches from both parties, as the rhetoric was jacked up even more by both political parties.
The House failed to approve a bill that would repeal part of a 2007 energy law that says light bulbs need to be 30 percent more efficient.
While Republicans did muster a simple majority in favor of the bill, it wasn't enough, as the measure needed a two-thirds vote, because it was considered under special expedited rules.
The vote was basically along party lines; 5 Democrats voted for the light bulb change - Boren OK, Costello IL, Matheson UT, Peterson MN and Rahall WV.
On the other side, 10 Republicans voted against the plan - Bass NH, Bilbray CA, Garrett NJ, Griffith VA, Hanna NY, Huelskamp KS, Reed NY, Reichert WA, Rigell VA and Thompson PA.
As for the Senate, very little has been going on legislatively all year in that chamber. Remember how last week Senators scrapped their break to stay at work on the debt limit?
Well, if you missed it, there were only two procedural votes taken all week. Today, the Senate will try to move forward on the bill that Democrats put on the floor regarding the debt limit, which is a non-binding resolution saying that the wealthy should pay more in taxes to help reduce the deficit.
Instead of describing it, here is the text of this non-binding resolution:
SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON SHARED SACRIFICE.
(a) Findings- Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Wall Street Journal reports that median pay for chief financial officers of S&P 500 companies increased 19 percent to $2,900,000 last year.
(2) Over the past 10 years, the median family income has declined by more than $2,500.
(3) Twenty percent of all income earned in the United States is earned by the top 1 percent of individuals.
(4) Over the past quarter century, four-fifths of the income gains accrued to the top 1 percent of individuals.
(b) Sense of the Senate- It is the sense of the Senate that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should require that those earning $1,000,000 or more per year make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.
And there you have it.
Democrats filed cloture on the bill earlier this week, so today Democrats will need 60 votes to force final action on the bill.
Sen. Harry Reid did not allow for any amendments to be considered, as he "filled the tree" to block any efforts by GOP Senators to force votes on subjects that Democrats don't want to talk about.
It seems unlikely that Democrats will get 60 votes on their non-binding resolution, which will leave Senators more time to do what they do best - point fingers at each other on who's to blame for the debt limit mess.
